I catch several looks from the other Champions, and I see Asterion glare. Their mouths twist in anger. Sabrina Margrave smirks, and Vyrrak follows suit.

Those two people really don't want me here.

Orrivane studies me as if I were a foreign creature, while Kaelric gives me a short nod.

"Professor," I hear Iskara say from beside me. "I would suggest you pick someone else if that's the pattern you want him to circulate."

I look at the blackboard and I recognize a block of Runic Notation across the top. Chalk lines tangle across the board in an undecipherable scrawl.

"Oh, why? It's something anybody with a Champion status should be capable of," Professor Veythra says, her voice innocent. "He's the one who solved all my puzzles in the least time. What's wrong with my behavior?"

Princess Iskara looks at her unimpressed, rolling her eyes, "This kind of mana pathway could seriously injure him. This is not professional behavior for a teacher."

"Hurt him?" Professor Veythra smiles like she is harmless. "This could never hurt a True Champion."

"Could it cripple me?" I ask Iskara, ignoring the Professor.

"No, but it's going to—"

"Alright, I'll give it a try," I say, standing and walking to the front of the class.

"It's okay, Cloud, I have several Skills that will help this lesson really sink in."

The ceiling lights dim, and the room lights up with a warm, red glow. The Professor's reddish skin starts to glow in response and turns translucent. A tight net of veins shows under her skin, and the many strands flash like lightning when mana circulates through them.

"This is [Mana Map]. I can use this Skill on myself and others. Let me show you the pathway you'll use for this lesson."

I watch her, and I see threads of mana explode from her spine. They whip around veins in her chest at a high speed, then pour down her legs, and climb back into her chest, and then return to her spine.

Her mana control was so fast, that I didn't even see which veins she used.

"Cloud, are you ready to try now? I'll take the time to guide you through the right veins. Perhaps my demonstration was a little too fast for your eyes."

I grit my teeth and nod.

"Alright, let's begin…"

Fifteen long minutes follow, where she gives me tiny, exact steps that turn my brain to mush. My head starts to go numb from straining to understand the pattern. I try to use the Grimoire to fix whichever flaws exist in the pattern, yet a strong headache starts to build anyway.

When I try to circulate mana on my own, without direction, even with the Grimoire, I suddenly feel faint and fall to the floor. My vision swims, but I'm fully conscious a few breaths later, coughing up blood onto the stone.

"What you've just seen is what makes it impossible for someone with low talent to utilize higher-level Skills even if they were to absorb them. Sure, you could all get a Mithril Skill right now. But what I just had Cloud do was to practice a Platinum Skill with high mana control requirements. Those are the exact pathways that you'd channel if you had the Skill. And look what it did to him."

Princess Iskara helps lift me by the arm and gives me an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry, you'll get there," she says, patting my shoulder.

Everyone except Sabrina Margrave and Vyrrak gives me encouraging looks.

"Sure," I say. I hold my chest, and I feel a dull pain start to form under my ribs.

The rest of the lesson continues while Professor Veythra lets everyone else attempt what I just failed. No one even blinks, and even the non-Champions try as if it is a drill they have run a hundred times.

* * *

I enter my dormitory and I find Lancelot sitting cross-legged in silence while he meditates.

"Lancelot," I say.

His eyes open, "Yes, Boss?"

"I need your help."

He rises from the bed and sees my face, understanding immediately how serious I am.

"I need your help with my training. Come."

* * *

The three Elves stand in the doorway with a shared scowl.

"We planned to only collaborate for Monster Felling 201. What are you doing here?"

I asked Elder Lioren where the three Elves sleep. And I find Althir, Elyndor, and Ithriel in their dorm.

"I need help with something. Would you mind lending me a hand? I'll make sure to pay you back."

"We're trying to get a Gold Rank Runic Notation," Althir sighs. "We're about to look at Quests for—"

"Oh," I smile. "Tell you what, I think I know someone."

* * *

Lancelot and the three Elves follow me to the practice yard behind the dorm. They look at me curiously when I hand them each a smooth stick.

Tell me again why they have to beat me up? I ask King Baalrek.

You need to injure your body enough to let Minor Enlightenment explore it and fix it. It has capacities far beyond what Meditation was able to do, Cloud. And you've seen the flaws in the Skill.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

[Grimoire Analysis]

[Skill Analyzed - Minor Enlightenment (Gold) - Level 1]

[Flaws Found: None]

For some reason, the Grimoire lists Minor Enlightenment as flawless.

It's an aberrant Skil, and. you're the flawed individual who has to wield it, Cloud. Minor Enlightenment will progress further and further as you find out more about yourself. The Grimoire, ironically enough, can't help you with that problem. You'll need REAL practice. Therefore, I'll have you practice some mana loops. As you do, you'll keep Minor Enlightenment active and, once your limb starts glowing, they'll hit you. They will start softly at first, then will get harder as your Skill improves. The more you can maintain your focus while under significant pain, the stronger Minor Enlightenment becomes as it slowly maps out your entire body.

I then explain the plan. The three Elves look a little too eager to help, and even Lancelot nods like a wise man who has waited for this.

"A humble servant shall do whatever needs to be done to properly serve their master."

Lancelot agrees a little too readily as well, the traitor.

Start with the veins you're most familiar with. You'll find that every body is imperfect. Go through Rising Sun, then to the Auxiliary Heart Veins, and back.

I stretch my arms and roll my shoulders. I then close my eyes and start to circulate my mana.

"Dammit!" I hiss as my arm stings with pain. A stick cracks across my wrists, as Lancelot and Althir step back warily.

"You said for us to hit you when you glow," they protest.

You can't be serious with this training, Baalrek.

I am, Jacob Cloud. I most definitely am. And yes. That's it. They did not strike you with much power. Continue.

"Everything's fine. Sorry, I must have gotten distracted. Let's continue."

I close my eyes once more, invoking Minor Enlightenment, which floods me with every sensation and sharpens my vision beyond what I could see before. Still, I flinch in anticipation even before I begin circulating mana.

You'll fail like this. You need to welcome the pain. Unexpected pain will trigger the effects of Minor Enlightenment. It will make everything sharper in your perception.

Sorry, I mutter, gritting my teeth.

This time, I sink even deeper into the trance state. When I start to spread the mana through my veins, I feel the strikes land. They hurt, yet I feel something open within me. I have great insight into the metaphysical parts of my body. Minor Enlightenment gives me a sharp sense of my body. It is like holding a bright lantern in a dark cave. Whenever the sticks strike my skin, bright pain rolls through me like lightning, and it turns what was once dark as night inside of me into day.

The scales fall from my eyes, and for the first time, I really see.

That's the pattern for Hellbane's Sword. The first pattern. King Baalrek smiles through his voice. You already saw the problem with it, didn't you?

I do.

Mana veins are complicated. How they tangle and shift varies slightly from person to person. I see that a bundle in my arm bends and strays too close to its neighbor. The flows touch and interfere with each other, causing the mana to whine in response.

I didn't know that adjacent veins could have such a strong impact.

They do. It's a major problem, especially later when your Skills get much stronger. For now, limit yourself to making your mana denser and more controlled. You don't want it to leak any more than it currently is.

I pull mana through the loop again, and I let Minor Enlightenment and pain guide me. I draw the mana tight, and I pack it like wet clay so it cannot spill. It moves faster. It meets less drag.

A stick thumps into my chest, and I feel my ribs jolt. More flaws light up, and I see even more snarls in my Skills that I have previously missed while training alone.

[Minor Enlightenment Lv. 1 → Lv. 9]

* * *

Professor Veythra sets two classes in three days. She barely planned to do anything on the first day because she wanted a day to measure the skill level of her newly invited students. Now she looks forward to humiliating Jacob Cloud again. She has prepared a special pattern just for him in the hopes that it will hurt him enough that he will drop out of school.

Professors are forbidden from crippling students. The oath that the Headmaster made them take forbids them from causing direct harm to their students. They cannot kill, steal, or cheat their students either. They are, however, allowed to hurt them if it is part of their lessons. Veythra is an Infernal, and her people hold contracts and oaths above most things. She hunts for the middle ground between crippling and a lesson. There is a small chance that the schema will cripple him. She also tailors it to him so well that, if the Headmaster questions her, it will look like she tried her best to instruct him.

She builds a complex mana circuit that runs through the main pathways that an Infernal uses when they summon Skills. These are the veins of Ash and Darkness, and Shadow and Fire. By learning these, one can craft even stronger Skills. She focuses most of the design on Gold Rank circuits and then weaves in a few that approach Platinum.

Students start to stream into her room. Heat rolls off the brazier, and chalk dust hangs in the air. She raises an eyebrow when she sees Jacob Cloud. He looks bloody and bruised from head to toe. He wears a fresh set of Academy robes, yet moves gingerly, as if he had gone through several beatings in a row. Everyone turns to look as he limps to his seat beside Iskara.

Students should know their limits. In these conditions, his chance of crippling himself is much higher than I planned. If I warn him and injure his pride, then the oath will allow this, Veythra schemes.

"Cloud, I have a lesson tailored perfectly for you. I rarely take my time to tailor an entire lesson to an individual, but since you were hurt during my last class, why don't you step up and learn this? I see that you're wounded. Would you perhaps like to take more time for yourself? I wouldn't want you to accidentally cripple your veins by trying to catch up with the others. In fact, you should learn the difference between—"

"I'll do it," Jacob says. He rises shakily and leans on Iskara's arm. She looks at him with concern, and she stays quiet when she sees the resolve glint deep in his eyes.

The kid has charisma, I'll give him that. But that is nothing in a world where the strong prey on the weak.

"You practice Infernal Skills. Therefore, I have put together mana loops meant for someone at Champion level, at the very least a weak Champion, and they hit all the main veins that an Infernal uses. Do you have any objection to this?"

"No."

"Is he insane?" a student mutters from the benches.

"Lad, you're going to hurt yourself!" Boomgar shouts. "Just take a rest! I'll teach ya how to explode things while you heal!"

"If he doesn't, he's just going to fall more and more behind," Sabrina Margrave says snidely.

"The role of a Champion comes with great responsibility," Vyrrak says, and he looks directly at Jacob. "He clearly is not ready for it. Nor will he ever be."

Professor Veythra smiles and lets the commotion continue so that it will redirect Jacob Cloud's focus.

"These are the first veins that…"

Professor Veythra triggers the same Skill she used last time so she can show him the flow. This time, before she can instruct him or mock him, she sees his body light up, and sees mana flow through the shoulder veins she has just demonstrated.

"Well, someone has been practicing," Professor Veythra says.

He must have pushed hard with Minor Enlightenment… but then why is he covered in bruises?

She cannot imagine that practicing with a single set of veins would leave those kinds of marks.

He looks like he lost ten street brawls in a row. When did he even have time to practice if he had been wasting his time?

Professor Veythra shows the full list of veins that Jacob must activate so that he can complete the circuit's flow. The design is strong, and she knows it. She spent several days refining it. If Jacob has any talent, this loop will set a deep base. Among Infernals, Veythra is a legend in her own right when it comes to Skill usage techniques. She teaches ranks below Mithril regularly, and she moves between Gold and True Diamond without issue. Some even say that she teaches better than certain old Royals of long stories.

Jacob shows good control of the single sets. Veythra knows that powering a full mana schema is a completely different task. It has a massive increase in strain due to the increased mana requirements.

"Cloud, are you ready?" Professor Veythra smiles.

"You seem really invested in my learning, teacher, even at the risk of my health," Jacob says knowingly. "Despite finishing first yesterday, you don't seem to believe in me. Would you care for a bet on whether I can complete this circuit?" He asks innocently.

"A bet?" Veythra laughs. "Sure, Cloud. What bet?"

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